Robile Robotics: / Computer Architecture Group.

One of the current challenges in robotics is the integration of robots in everyday environments. A fast and easy deployment of robots in new areas is necessary to get robots operating outside research centres and beyond the continuous supervision of roboticists. Robots must be capable of being installed and put into operation within very short periods of time.

Our main objectives are: Complete avoidance of pre-definition robot control and learning it from experience and human observation; Identify and locate people and robots in indoor environments; and Interacting with people in a friendly and natural way.

Another open question is to enable robots to autonomously move in non-structured, complex and dynamic environments. In this way, we are developing efficient 3D perception systems, environment representations and sensor fusions. Finally, the robot has to localize and map itself in its environment. We are developing algorithms for localizing the robot from a previous known map, and for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) of the robot in the environment. As main sensors, we are using omnivision cameras, stereo cameras, Kinect sensors and home-made 3D lasers.